Tuesday, April 28, 2009

On these beautiful spring days, it's tough deciding how to spend the mornings: head outside and weed among the daffodils or throw on an apron and get floury in the kitchen? Here's a quick bread recipe that lets you do both--Pita! With a relatively rapid rising time (30 minutes) you can have the satisfaction of having your hands in both dough and dirt in the same morning.Just be sure to use that nail brush in between!

Pita bread is something my family has been making for as long as I can remember. They are so fun to make and puff up nicely, leaving a hollow center to fill with grilled chicken, veggies or whatever you desire. They are pretty amazing just warm from the oven with a drizzle of olive oil.

Dissolve yeast in water for about 5 minutes in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add salt and 1 ½ cups flour and with the dough hook, beat to make a batter. Add additional flour until a rough, shaggy mass is formed. Knead 8 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. Add more flour if it is too sticky.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into six pieces for large pitas or ten for smaller. I make all sorts of sizes to suit different snacks and meals. Form dough into balls, then flatten with a rolling pin into ¼ inch thick discs. Try and keep an even thickness as this is what helps them ‘puff’.

Let rest on the floured surface 30-40 minutes until slightly puffed.

Preheat oven to 425F.

With a large spatula, flip the rounds of dough upside down on to a baking sheet. Bake 10-15 minutes until light golden. Stick around for the first five minutes of baking when the pitas perform their magic and puff up from flat pancakes to proud, four inch high pitas.

These store for up to two days well wrapped or frozen for three weeks.

I am SO excited about this recipe for pita bread!! I love the idea of pita bread, but any/all pita bread that I've purchased was so dry and "not worth the calories" tasting. I am definitely going to make these. Thank you for sharing the recipe!!!

I've made pita bread exactly one time -- it was great to watch it puff up in the oven, and the taste was amazing. But at the time I lived three blocks from a pita bread bakery, so I lost all motivation to ever make my own pita again!

Awww they look so cute and puffy!! Homemade pita involves no compromise: they are quick and delicious! So much better than any store-bought variety. Yours look very nice and light!I've been following your blog for a while and I love it. I think you do a fantastic job at bringing us easy and delicious recipes.Thanks for sharing them :)

I tried this a while back. I don't know what I did wrong but although they puffed up, they were hard like a rock when they came out. I was so sad because I was so excited about it. Any suggestions on how to fix that?

I won't be able to come Saturday evening as it turns out. It's my mom's birthday and we're having family dinner then. Hope you have fun!

I made both the pita and the hummus and am enjoying both as we speak. Yours look way better than mine. I made 11 pitas, different sizes but the 3rd "batch" (since I couldn't fit all in my oven) were flat like pancakes. What did I do wrong?

Ok. This will be my Saturday am cook up. I'm interested in knowing what kind of pans you use. I'm in need of at least a new baking sheet... And what's the deal with sil pads? (I think that's what they're called...)

Hi Jane- I use AP flour, but 'm sure bread flour would work well, too.

Hi Qte- Welcome to UtHC! Hope to see you around in the future.

Hi Culinarywannabe- Mmm I wish I had some of that dip around when I made these.

Hi TreehouseChef- Thanks! You'll love them.

HI Marta- Thanks so much for reading!

Hi Sharon- You may have overbaked them slightly. They tend to get pretty crispy in that case. Overworking the dough may be a factor too. You'll have to come over for a tutorial sometime! Say happy birthday to your mom for me!

Hi LaNita- I'm thrilled you're reading and trying the recipes!! They probably over-rose by being the last batch in, or if they are not rolled to an even thickness throughout, they won't rise.

Hi Chocolatecups- Thanks for stopping by. Who doesn't love pita??

Hi Cara- I just use cookie sheets. Silpats are overrated.I never use mine unless I am working with meringues or candy. Happy baking!!

Hi Aimee, Thanks for your recipe, I found it a few weeks ago and on a whim decided to just make it tonight. The whole process was relaxing and perfect, and it produced wonderful pitas! I sat and watched them puff up in the oven - possibly the best part!They were so moist and chewy, nothing like the brittle shop bought ones I've had before.Thanks for a brilliant recipe - it's going to be used a lot around here.ps I used strong bread flour for mine :)

Hi! I found you through pinterest. Thanks for sharing the recipe! It should be called the perfect pita recipe. They ALL puffed and were soft and easy to cut open I will never use my other recipe again!♥

This is for Kayleen. Tahini is really easy to make. See http://bit.ly/A5LcY4 (or google for other recipes). I make 1/3 this amount, and I make it with a mortar and pestle instead of the food processor because I like the texture.

I made these tonight for the first time. Half puffed and half were flat (I figured I could use the flat ones for hummus). All and all pretty good for a first timer. My husband and kids loved them. I used a mix of whole grain and white wheat flours....

Hi, I made these today, they fluffed up nicely but were very hard. From your previous comments I see that I may have over baked them. How do I find when it is the right time to take them out of the oven?

I did not have a dough hook,so I had to knead it by hand and used dry active yeast. They didn't puff in the oven ? The taste was wonderful though I added some Garlic powder and parsley to the dry ingredients maybe this was the cause? The dough was rolled out evenly

I made these last night and I was thrilled to see that they puffed, but when we went to eat them they can out like pita bread on one side and pita chips very crisp and cracking apart on the other side. Am I supposed to flip during cooking? Also when you say kneed for 8 minutes do you mean in the kitchen aid with the bread hook? Is it really 8 min or just till it comes together and is workable. They were tasty just diffucult to use as a sandwich due to the cracking.

Hello! I just wanted to let you know that I featured a link to this page on my Weekend Picks this week. Can't wait to try this recipe for myself! I love pita bread and think I would much prefer my own over store-bought. Have a blessed week ahead!~Rebecca http://rebeccashearthandhome-proverbs31heart.blogspot.com/2012/06/weekend-picks-61512.html

I made these today and the first 4 turned out very crunchy on the top side.. but the 2nd 4 i took out 4-5 minutes earlier and they were quite a bit better.. i also worked my dough a lot, so i'll try not working it as much next time (i did a full 8 minutes after the flour was in and mixed well).. and i didn't flip them upside down when i put them on the pan.. so i guess i'll try all of those.. but they taste good :) and i even got my husband to watch the 'puff' with me-haha..

My pitas didn't puff up very much. I haven't cut into them yet, but i don't know what i did wrong. I rolled them out and let them sit. Maybe i made them too big. Any suggestions? I would love to try them again. I make my own everything, but i just can't seem to get pitas down?!?!?!

I made these, and to be honest, I was a little surprised to see them puff up. :) But they did, at least 3 inches. Not all puffed the first time, and some burnt and/or were too hard. I made them again, adding some whole wheat flour, and even with doubling the batch and baking them in shifts they all puffed beautifully. I only cooked them 5-6 minutes this time instead of 10-15, and they are much better. I guess it depends on the oven and pan.

I made these last night and they turned out to be really yummy but were more like huge rolls... I think I made them too thick. We just hollowed them out and my husband and I really enjoyed them. Thanks for the recipe!

Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! It came out picture perfect and was very very easy to make. I had them done in just over an hour. I did make 2 small changes 1. added 1 tsp of suagr to the water to give my yeast something to eat 2. did half whole wheat and half AP flour and they came out great! I did everything in my Kitchen Aid mixer. Thank you again for sharing and making this so easy.

Mine came out super hard!! I didnt even left them mote than 15 min in the oven, you can still eat them but ... impossible to make a gyro with them :( But they taste reaaaaally good!!! I ended up eating them as simple withe bread with olive oil and oregano.

Hello! Thanks for the inspiration! I made these this morning and we had pulled BBQ chicken and coleslaw sandwiches for lunch! we all loved them, but I must have cooked them a little to long as they were a little hard on the outside...I will be making these again!!

Just finished a pita sandwich from this recipe, they were quick & super easy to make (and of course YUMMY)! I definitely plan on making more. Next step is to make some into pita chips for hubby's hummus. :)

This recipe was so much better than the one I had for pitas! My old recipe I had to turn the oven on 500 degrees! They often didn't rise and the baking trays would get too hot! It was a nightmare. These look great and I'm cant wait to taste them! Thank you.

You know how some people have a "math block"? I have a pita block :-( I just made these and they puffed and taste lovely but they are bread all the way through, no hollow center :-( I've tried a couple of other pita recipes with worse results although I frequently whip up baguettes, na'an, pooris and homemade soft pretzels with no trouble. Help??

Just tried to make these. Didn't work out :( A few small spots tried to puff up without real success. Not sure what happened unless it was because I tried to make with a gluten free flour blend. I used rolling pin rings to get an even thickness and watched the entire time in the oven. Used a timer while mixing/kneading also. Any thoughts?

I just made these and they tasted great! However, they barely puffed up. I thought it was because when I flipped them over onto the pan they might have collapsed? Did they not puff up just because they could have been uneven thickness? thanks-Ravyn

I pinned this months ago and wanted to try it. Today was the day! The first time I tried this, they did not puff! They were evenly rolled and 1/4 of an inch thick before I let them set. Determined to make pitas, I tried again. The second time I rolled them to have different thinknesses. I found that you have to make sure that the dough pulls back some when you roll them out (like pizza dough). You also need to roll to about 1/8 of an inch thick. The thinnest one "poofed" the best. Thin, with no holes in the dough is perfect! I also did not cook them the full amount of time because the batch I did turned out too crispy. I made 10 good sized pitas. My girls are so excited!

This recipe turned out more like English muffins for me - BUT, that's not a bad thing! This is really delicious, and I can't say that I'm disappointed! Thanks! I can't wait to experiment by using some bread and wheat flour!

they didnt really rise at all before i baked them, which made me a bit concerned, but boy did they puff up in the oven! love the simplicity of this recipe and the outcome couldnt be more spectacular! crisp little pillows with a beautiful tender crumb. thanks a lot!

I made these pitas and I made 10. Put five on each of the pans, and put them on different levels in the oven. They didn't rise much! :( is it because they were at different levels? Or do they have to be like EXTREMELY even?

I tried making these and I just ended up with round puffy pieces of bread. I'm pretty sure I messed up the yeast. I only had red star dry active yeast. I'm not sure if one tablespoon of their yeast is the same as the ne you used. What brand did you use?

I made these yesterday and for the most part they turned out okay. They were hard as rocks when I took them out of the oven but they softened as they cooled but they were still really thick. I think I must have overworked the dough. I worked them by hand for 8 minutes so next time I'll just use the hook. Definitely going to try them again!

These are in the oven right now and I'm so excited! When I rolled mine out and set them to rise, I didn't loud the counter enough and I had to be a little rough with them to get them up. I think mine won't puff for that reason, and, reading the comments, I thought I might throw that out there as a possible reason why someone else's may not have puffed. I can't wait to try them! Thanks!

Wow! These were awesome! I used 2 1/4 wood dowel sticks from the craft store to level out my thickness on either side under my rolling pin and they turned out perfect! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe I will never buy another pita again :)

I made these and they were perfect -- puffed up beautifully. I accidentally started them in a lower oven temp than I was supposed to -- 375 vs. 425 -- but they worked just fine. It's sort of important to watch them -- as soon as they turn golden, take them out. They'll be stiff at first, but after a few minutes they get soft and gorgeous. Thanks so much for this recipe -- a real revelation.

Keep an eye on them! Even if your oven is set to 180 or 200C° it may actually be hotter or colder than that. Those 15 minutes may have been too long. See if 5 or 6 minutes is enough like it was for another baker that posted earlier.

Keep an eye on them! Even if your oven is set to 180 or 200C° it may actually be hotter or colder than that. Those 15 minutes may have been too long. See if 5 or 6 minutes is enough like it was for another baker that posted earlier.

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